Slow down, Telltale!

I don't like to play the devil's advocate. Actually, I like to be a fan boy, because it owns!

Nevertheless, I feel I should say something about the direction Telltale is going, because some things have happened recently and I'm a bit puzzled about some decisions my beloved company has made. I'll get down some examples in order to back up my thoughts (skip to the end of the enumeration if you're easily bored :cool: ):

1) The first episode of Wallace & Gromit, i.e. Fright of the Bumblebees, was published with a resolution-setting bug everyone was aware of. It seems that nobody wanted to change the release date to correct the problem before getting many users frustrated. I know, release dates are extremely important for the whole Telltale enterprise, but still. That bug wasn't a minor issue.

2) The Strong Bad dvd lacked the audio commentaries and was less rich than S1 and S2 in bonus content.

3) I've decided to accept the direct control thing, because I like Telltale games for their script and game-design, but the control systems from W&G and ToMI seem to suffer from schizophrenia. I bought a joypad to enjoy W&G better (unfortunately there was no direct support for it, but I managed to solve the problem with Joy2Key) and it worked. I was expecting that ToMI would feature the same control layout with the hotspot rotation keys, but I was rather surpised to see that a mouse was strongly recommended. I've bought a joypad to accomodate myself to Telltale's new system but that system changed (again). I've also read that the development on ToMI began when nobody knew which control system would have been featured.

4) It's strange that nobody had planned a clear strategy regarding the translations of ToMI, especially considering that W&G has been published subtitled in the four main languages. I don't mean that ToMI should have been published already translated from the beginning, I just mean that a strategy stronger than "We don't know yet" had to be ready.

5) I like the art on ToMI, but it's undeniably simpler than W&G's. I supposed that it was due to the upcoming Wii port, so I didn't complain. I like to play my games on PC, but I'm not anti-console, so I could accept the strategy if this means a broader audience for adventure games. Now I read that the Wii version has a lot of problems and I wonder: why didn't Telltale choose to go Xbox 360 for this? Because they were already making W&G for the Live Arcade? Wouldn't have been wiser to wait for W&G to wrap and THEN publish ToMI for PC and Xbox 360? Or publish ToMI just for the PC, postponing the console ports?

6) Right now you're working on ToMI, CSI Deadly Intent, various portings and something else we don't know (I guess). I have the feeling you're in overload mode, considering that even the press advance copy of ToMI ep1 was made available really late in the process, and I guess the press evaluation copy of The Bogey Man won't be ready until after the game ships on the 29th.

Why did I loose so much time to write this post?That's simple.

I think you're going too fast.

Full Throttle , granted. But you're losing something in this rush, you're losing the time to make your creative and commercial choices stronger. I am worried you could get offended by these remarks, because I know you've been working your asses off in these last weeks, but I hope you will understand I'm not "doing the flamer" here.I considered you an awesome developer/publisher, but in the last months you just slipped a bit down the chart. Let's say you're now around the "very good still rather trustworthy developer/publisher".

I joke because I am not that angry, I've been following you since Telltale Texas Hold'Em and I'm also happy you've risen the difficulty level in ToMI after the relatively easy Strong Bad and W&G.I'm just worried that you're not allowing yourself the time to grow in the best way possible.

I can see logic in a lot of what you're saying except maybe the control system issue. Telltale didn't insist that people use joypads, you made that choice and they only implemented mouse control in Monkey Island because fans complained about only having keyboard as an option.

About the translation part... I think W&G gets a translation so fast because the primary public for these games are from Europe, and French and Spanish people just can't play a game if it's not in their languaje. For the other side, the primary public for Tales of Monkey Island is in America, so, no need of a translation thing.

I think the Art in ToMI is just wonderful, so, I don't get that part of the complain. Neither the joystick.

But, I agree too it's feels like they are overloading theirselfes. Eventualy they will fix them, somehow. I hope. Probably, that of having the Bonus Content Disc contemplated in the beggining of the production is one of that fixes. Who knows.

About the translation part... I think W&G gets a translation so fast because the primary public for these games are from Europe, and French and Spanish people just can't play a game if it's not in their languaje. For the other side, the primary public for Tales of Monkey Island is in America, so, no need of a translation thing.

Error: Monkey island has a worldwide and old school fan base. All Monkey Island games were translated, even the first ones in 1990 and 1991. This is the only Monkey Island game not translated yet